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Despite 'zero tolerance,' not all immigrant families separated

Aileen B. Flores, El Paso Times
Published 7:16 p.m. MT June 22, 2018

A Guatemalan woman and her 1-year-old son were held together before being released to await a hearing

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Ruben Garcia, director of the Annunciation House in El Paso leads a Guatemalan woman and her son across the Paso Del Norte Bridge. The mother and son planned to request asylum.(Photo11: RUDY GUTIERREZ / EL PASO TIMES)Buy Photo

Marisol Bernal carried her 1-year-old son across the Rio Grande into El Paso two weeks ago.

She was caught June 8 — two months after the Justice Department implemented its "zero tolerance" policy and one month after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said children would be separated from their immigrant parents facing charges of illegal entry.

The 21-year-old from Guatemala and her son, Angel, faced a harrowing journey followed by four days in a cold, crowded concrete cell at one of El Paso's ports of entry. But she was never separated from her son, and she was released to a local shelter while she awaits a court hearing on her asylum petition.

The Annunciation House is in Downtown El Paso. It provides temporary housing to immigrants who have been released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to await hearings.(Photo11: Courtesy photo)

Ruben Garcia, founder and director of Annunciation House, where Bernal is staying, said many of the parents at the shelter last week crossed the border illegally but were not jailed nor separated from their children.

Garcia believes U.S. Border Patrol agents did not have enough space in their detention facilities at the ports to hold the immigrants, so they were released despite the zero tolerance policy. The shelter received about 360 people last week, and staff expected to receive another 400 to 450 by the end of this week.

U.S. Border Patrol officials did not respond to questions about how they decide which immigrants are jailed or separated from their children and which are released to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to have their hearings scheduled and await further proceedings.

ICE officials said that their agency may exercise "prosecutorial discretion" and allow immigrants to stay in the United States undetained while their case is being resolved. In those cases, the immigrants are released to institutions such as Annunciation House, which helps the immigrants connect with their relatives or friends in the U.S.

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Arizona Republic reporters explain the difference between seeking asylum at the border and attempting to immigrate illegally.
Carly Henry, The Republic | azcentral.com

In the past weeks, CBP officers have intercepted border-crossers on the internatinoal bridges, and, immigrant advocates say, attempting to dissuade asylum seekers from crossing into El Paso. The CBP officers have told some asylum seekers that the ports of entry are at capacity.

Garcia believes the government was not ready to implement the zero tolerance policy.

“Even though Jeff Sessions said 'zero tolerance,' when all the statistics come out, I would not be surprised that they were only able to prosecute a small percentage of the people,” Garcia said. “They were not prepared.”

After widespread outcries, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday barring the separation of families for immigration violations. And an inability to house reunited immigrant families apparently spurred the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas to dismiss all immigration cases against parents who entered the country illegally.

Although Bernal was fortunate to avoid being separated from Angel and jailed until her hearing, her story before arriving at Annunciation House is far from a happy one.

She and her son left their home country about a month ago. She was forced to leave her 3-year-old daughter, Genesis, with Bernal's mother.

She fled Guatemala after a criminal group robbed a store at the mall where Bernal worked. The robbers were arrested and put in jail, but other members of the gang kidnapped Bernal and her daughter after she picked up the 3-year-old from school.

“They beat us and they broke my girl’s little arm,” she said crying. Bernal was sexually assaulted.

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Ruben Garcia, director of Annunciation House in El Paso speaks to the crowd at the entrance to the Tornillo-Guadalupe Port of Entry where undocumented immigrant children are being housed.(Photo11: RUDY GUTIERREZ / EL PASO TIMES)

Bernal knew she could not stay in Guatemala, but she could not take both of her children with her.

“I’m breast-feeding him, and she was hurt," Bernal said. "I also did not have the money to bring them both with me.”

Bernal said she had no choice but to leave her 3-year-old daughter with her mother.

As she and Angel traveled to the Juarez-El Paso border, she was robbed, assaulted, and kidnapped by another criminal group in Chiapas.

“They took everything from me — clothes, money, everything I had with me."

She said her mother was able to raise the $1,000 ransom for her release.

She and Angel finally arrived in Juarez on June 8. She went straight to the border, where she crossed the Rio Grande and was found by U.S. Border Patrol agents. They waited for her at the other side of the river as she crossed, she said.

“I crossed the river to turn myself over to the Border Patrol,” she said. “I want to be here because I want a safe place for my children. All I am asking for is an opportunity."

She was detained at one of El Paso's ports of entry.

“When they turned me over to the detention officers, I was told my son was going to stay with me because he was too small, I was breastfeeding him and he was crying a lot,” she said. “I was never separated from him.”

She said Angel went hungry those four days. The mother and son were given burritos and cookies, but he threw up everything she tried to feed him.

Bernal said they slept on the floor and the small blanket officers provided for the child was not enough to keep him warm in the cool facility.

The conditions in the cell were "horrible," she said.

After enduring the trauma of her life in Guatemala, her trip to the border, and her stay in a holding cell, Bernal remains hopeful for a better life for her family and says her children give her the strength to keep hoping.

Aileen B. Flores may be reached at 546-6362. aflores@elpastimes.com. @AileenBFlores on Twitter.